Kindergarten, Camp & an Island

Dear Friends,

we've just finished mailing out our latest newsletter. It's been posted on our web site. If you have any problems seeing it, let me know and I'll email you the pdf version. Actually the pdf version looks much better, but it also is a much larger file. So let me know if you would like it in pdf. But about the web site posting, the link is: http://hqmail.agmd.org/~tonya.eshelman/NL%202005%20July/newsletter%202005%20July.html

We've enjoyed hearing stories from so many of you all about how your daughters (and in one case grandson) have cut their hair in the past. I laughed and laughed and felt much better about what Vera did to her hair. One person who saw a picture of her wrote me and said: Vera's hair looks cut(e).

This last week we've helped a local church with starting a Christian Kindergarten. As far as we know it is the first one in the city. We assisted with cleaning out and remodeling a four room apartment and preparing it for the children. Tonya painted the ceiling in one room and came home covered with pink spots. It is a small start, but they hope to open the 1st of August, and already the sign-up list for children is full. We have our own Vera signed up to attend while Tim is in school.

Cecil has been asked to preach in a local church tomorrow while the pastor is away (Sunday 11:00 a.m. for us is Saturday 8:00 p.m. for you on the east coast). Tonya will translate. Please pray that the Lord uses us to speak to the people.

On Tuesday we will being going camping on an island in the river between Russia and China. There will be lots of boys and girls coming to play, swim, sing, make friends and learn about Jesus for five days. We will be assisting with the youngest group of boys, which will be Tim's age (talk about energy). Please pray that 1) we wear them out before they wear us out and 2) they all have life-changing encounters with the living God. Cecil has already spent one day on the island helping to set up the camp (without a translator, great practice for his Russian).

Our children have been doing well forming friendships. One thing that amazes us is the high percentage of children without fathers. Of the friends they have gotten to know in our yard and invited to our home, only one lives with their father. At least two of the kids are being raised by their grandmothers. And we live in the "good" part of town. We recently heard that there were more divorces than marriages in Khabarovsk last year (putting the divorce rate at about 110%). Coming to Russia we hoped to be involved with ministry to orphans. It turns out that any youth ministry here will be ministering to the fatherless.

Vanya is a teenager who lives in an orphanage in Khabarovsk. He often visits our home. One day he decided to bake a kind of cake called "anthill" for us. Here he is in our kitchen putting on the final touches.

Our church is adding new Sunday School classrooms, Timothy decided to lend a helping hand mixing the concrete.

Also, we recently checked out the local botanical garden.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

In His Service,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Reflections from Our Thailand Trip

We've been back from the Eurasia conference for two weeks now. Thailand is certainly very different than Russia. It was interesting to watch the way our kids responded to the culture of Thailand. Vera enjoyed the way Thai people put their palms together when they said thank you. She was a real hit when she would put her palms together and say thank you in the Thai language. Of course her blond hair made her stand out there. She was fascinated by the handicrafts and artwork there, specially the woodcarvers. And Tim? Well, Tim liked the elephants.

Tonya and I will never forget the response Tim and Vera had to the idol worship there. The prevalent religion of Thailand is common Buddhism which involves the worship of Buddha and Buddha idols. Our first day in Thailand we had some free time to go on a tour of Bangkok. The guide took us to a couple of temples. The kids were amazed people worshipped statues and started saying things like, "idols can't help you," and, "you should only worship the true God." Tonya and I tried to help them express this truth in ways that were a little more sensitive, but the strength of their reaction was surprising. We feel that the true God has a calling on the lives of our children.

Since we have returned to Russia Timothy has continued to be concerned about the people there that didn't know who the real god is. He even asked us if he could become a missionary to Thailand some day.

In the last two weeks Cecil has been busy trying to catch up on paperwork and get out our latest newsletter. Authoring an interesting, informative and balanced letter can be a creative challenge. And now that our mailing list is over 350 addresses it takes a while to print them. We will email you a copy soon.

The weather here in Khabarovsk has become quite warm. Today it was about 95 degrees with no clouds in the sky. That doesn't sound too hot to the folks in the Carolinas, but here it doesn't cool down until after sunset, which is about 10:30 these days.

One big problem facing churches here is difficulty with buildings. Many churches do not have buildings and must meet in rented facilities, where there is the ongoing threat of being forced to find a new meeting location with little warning. Those that manage to purchase a building usually need to expand their facilities almost constantly (most church congregations here are growing). Sunday afternoon and evening Cecil joined some of the men at a church and put some sweat into the new nursery and Sunday School rooms they are adding on the end of their building.

While he did that Tonya was inside with some ladies helping them make plans for starting a Christ centered kindergarten. They have been praying about this for a long time but it looks like they will be able to start soon. They have just rented a place in a good location and this evening Tonya will join them again as they start remodeling the place.

We want to thank you for your prayers. God has been blessing us and we are thankful for it. Our prayer for ourselves is to show true love to the people here so that they can come to know Jesus for themselves. If you would like us to pray for you, just send us an email.

In His Love,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Summer break begins

Dear Friends,

We are back from an important conference in Thailand and Cecil is ready to begin his summer break.

The tri-annual Eurasia meeting for AGWM was held in Thailand during the end of June. Hundreds of missionaries from Eurasia gathered to discuss a variety of issues. Some of the topics were practical, some sessions were encouraging, some meetings were strategic, some was worshipful, some was ministry to the missionaries, all of it was for building the Kingdom of God. And, of course, some of us went out to see the elephants.

Summer break has begun at the University where Cecil is studying Russian. He plans to continue independent work on the language until classes begin this fall. This should not be difficult since every trip to the store is a language practice exercise. But he will continue to hit the books too.

Tonya has gotten involved with team building for orphanage outreach. She has been partnering with a Ukrainian lady with a different organization to help orphans. They have formed a leadership team of older orphans to assist the younger ones. This has already begun to bear fruit.

Cecil continues to work on our web site, and bit by bit it keeps getting more and more interesting. If you haven't seen it, please take a look. The address is http://hqmail.agmd.org/~cecil.eshelman

Cecil is planning to host a pastor's conference for church leaders in the Russian Far East. They haven't had one for several years and many of the pastors are in great need of refreshment and encouragement. It looks like it will be the last week of September. Please pray for all the arrangements to come together, for the speaker to be inspired, and for these precious workers to be able to attend.

We have begun the process of purchasing a vehicle. It has been a bit more complicated than buying a car in the states. Please pray that the entire process continues without a hitch.

Do please pray that the Lord guide the use of our time this summer as our schedule will be quite different than during the school year.

Overall things continue to go well for us. Thank you so much for the encouraging letters and emails you all have sent. If there is anything we can pray for on your behalf, please let us know.
Because of Him,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Gains and Losses

Dear Friends,

a few weeks ago in my Russian language lessons at the University the textbook used the words "eternal book" in one of the texts. The professor explained that in Russian literature this refers to the Bible. The two Chinese students still looked confused so we explained in Russian what the Bible is. They still looked confused and since they speak some English I tried to explain in English what the Bible is (Christian book, etc.). Eventually I just told them maybe I could buy them one. After a lot of looking Tonya finally found where to get some Chinese Bibles here (from the Bible League). On Thursday I gave each of them a Chinese Bible. They had never seen a Bible before. After leafing through his new book one of them suddenly had a look of recognition and in Russian said, "in America this is a famous and important book!" I assured him it is. He had only heard about it before. The other student still wasn't sure I meant the books as gifts and asked if he could take his to China. I assured him that that he could keep the book.

We have found a "home church" here where we really do feel at home and we have been attending regularly. We have also been attending other services to get to meet people and make connections. Sunday a week ago we went to a new church (about 80 or 90 people that morning). It was started by a hairdresser, the wife of an army general. She was witnessing to her clients and some got saved, so she started a home group. Her daughter in college lead some students to the Lord and they joined the group. Soon it was too big to meet in a house so they started renting a classroom. I watched three people come forward to pray for salvation after she preached. You never know when God may put a call on your life.

The churches here are growing, but there is so much still to do. When I ask pastors what percentage of the population in this area are saved they give me estimates from 1% to 3%. I think that is about the same as India. Praise that Lord that many are gaining eternal life through Jesus Christ. Please continue to pray for the Russian Far East.

Talk about gains and losses. Timothy lost his two top front teeth last week, but he is gaining two new adult teeth already. The tooth fairy here pays in rubles. On Saturday Vera was having so much fun cutting paper in her room that she decided to give herself a hair cut (has anyone else's daughter ever done that?). After taking her to the hairdressers for damage control, it doesn't look too bad (just a whole new style). Ahhh, life is filled with adventure.

Tonya has been ministering at an orphanage once a week. She has joined forces with a single lady missionary from the Ukraine who has been doing orphanage outreach here for a long time. They have formed a team from the older saved orphan students who help them minister to the younger ones. This team has done very well and on Saturday afternoon we treated the team to a sightseeing ride on a boat on the Amur river. A guitarist from the Baptist church joined us and we sang some songs, fellowshipped and had a good time. Afterward they watched a Christian movie together.

This coming Saturday we will be going to Thailand for a conference with our organization. We'll be gone for over a week and I don't know what kind of internet connection we will have there, so if you email me during that time it might seem like I'm ignoring you.

We sincerely thank you all for your prayers and your support. May the Lord truly bless you and enrich your lives.

In His Wonderful Name,
Cecil

Warm weather and Russian words

Things continue to go well for us here in the Russian Far East. Cecil's Russian classes continue and he often has new Russian words floating around in his head that he doesn't know how to use yet. Sometimes he can actually create a Russian sentence with three nouns in it, but there is so much more to learn. Tonya continues to be a great housewife and mother, and is using her gift of friendship evangelism. Vera and Timothy are making more friends. Tim is taking some Russian lessons of his own to prepare for school this fall.

The weather has gone through a major change. Two weeks ago we were using our heavy coats and now we are going outside in tee shirts. We are still getting used to the long sunlight hours of the summer, which continue to get longer. Right now the sun sets about 10:00 pm and it is bright enough to wake me up by 6:00 in the morning.

Please pray for our health as we seem to keep getting colds. Also pray for he kid's sleep schedule, it is hard for them to go to sleep with the sun shining bright. Summer break is coming at Cecil's University, and we will be doing some traveling. There are some interesting opportunities opening up during this time, and we are seeking the Lord's guidance and direction.

Praise the Lord all our needs are being met. Our post office box is doing great and we've been getting mail from both within Russia and overseas.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support.

Two Months

It was two months ago today that we were on a plane and headed west to live in the Russian Far East. God has been so good to us and things are going well.

We've settled into our apartment rather well and have slowly been making friends in the area. There is a wonderful church we have gotten involved with, although we plan to visit many other churches in Khabarovsk. Tonya has been ministering in one of the orphanages once a week. Cecil is heavily involved with language study and his fluency has already improved noticeably. He spends five hours a day, five days a week in class. Vera loves her ballet lessons and Timothy enjoys learning to play chess.

Russia is bigger than the United States and each region has a different flavor of their culture. We have been surprised at the strong nationalism and quazi-communist mentality here in the Russian Far East. Cecil must be very careful about any ministry involvement since he is here on a student visa. Tonya and the kids have more freedom since they have Russian citizenship. Churches here have to be careful, especially in regards to foreign religious workers. We hope Cecil will eventually be able to receive a Russian "green card" (residence permit), which would give him the same freedoms as a Russian citizen. It is illegal in our region to distribute religious literature on the street, or to teach the Bible in schools and orphanages, so we must be cautious about how we present ourselves. Thankfully we have much more freedom than in China (our house is about 22 miles from China).

God has opened many so many doors for us already. We have sensed His guiding hand our entire time here. And there are so many obvious ministry needs. We pray that the Lord give us wisdom to know what to do and how to do it.

Tim had a birthday party (May 3) with a pirate theme.

As I look out my window I see it is snowing right now. The weather has been capricious but they tell us that spring is just around the corner. Three days ago the central heat was turned off and we haven't had any hot water since then, they say it should come back on tomorrow. Ahh, yes, we are in Russia.

Cecil has formed some friendships with the Korean and Chinese students at his University. Please pray for opportunities to witness to them about Christ.

Eastertime?

Here in Russia Easter falls on May First this year since we follow the Orthodox Calendar for holidays. So have a great Easter.

We have mostly settled into our new home and we praise God for providing everything we need. Cecil is very busy with language study at the University and is in class almost five hours a day five days a week. Tonya has been active forming connections with people, and has begun ministering in an orphanage once a week. Vera has begun ballet classes twice a week and Timothy wants to take swim lessons this summer.

We finally got a newsletter together and mailed them out this week.

Monday is a holiday, so we are having Cecil's class over. They are from Korea and China. It will give them a break from the dormitory and hopefully open an opportunity to share Christ with them. Please pray for them to find Jesus.

There are many ministry opportunities here and lots of obvious needs to be met. Please pray for us to have wisdom and to hear from the Holy Spirit about how we should get involved and how to start. Soon we will need to find a garage so that we can get a car. In time we will need to get a place to base our operations out of. So many short range and long range plans. We just want God's plan.

We Arrived

We arrived in Khabarovsk one week ago today. We know God helped us since all of our luggage arrived with us, and the border guards gave us no problems. A Russian pastor we had talked over the phone with met us at the airport with a car, a pick-up truck, and several strapping young men to carry our baggage. It was a bright sunny day at a balmy 35 degrees F.

The hotel where we stayed first was great, but God has continued to bless us. Today we moved into a furnished apartment we were able to rent. It is an answer to prayer: spacious, warm, at a reasonable cost, with a telephone, in the city center, and not too far from the University where Cecil studies Russian. It is amazing that we were able to locate a good apartment so quickly. Since today is Cecil's birthday, we were able to have some of our new friends over and eat a cake.

We have a telephone and Cecil got a mobile phone. And you can see we have internet access too. We don't have a mailing address yet, but we plan to get a post office box in the next couple of days.

Cecil has started Russian language classes at the University. Tim and Vera have already made some new friends. Tonya is delighted to be able to speak Russian to everyone and even go to church in her native language (it was a wonderful service Sunday morning).

Thank you for your prayers, we have received so many answered prayers already. Please continue to pray for our settling in, as we still need to set up a bank account, get some things for the apartment, learn the area, etc. May the Lord richly bless you.

Yours in Christ,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera